Function Key not working, how to turn on wifi on Windows 7

[Ian50]

"No one has ever tested the 250 G6 on W8.1"

Oh, I see. I thought I was missing some information :smileyindifferent:

Well, as time permits, I'll persist. The worse that can happen is that it doesn't work, or completely fouls up so I have to re-install Win7 then the image file.

Either way, I'll add a comment. Thanks for the driver zip file link.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're the 250 G6 W7 world's last hope! 

[Ian50]

Yes, well  ...

It occurred to me earlier but I kept forgetting to ask:

I'm looking for a registry power on/off key  for the Airplane key in the AC3168 driver.

It may well be in an Airplane driver, after all, not in the network adaptor. Is there such a driver for W8.1, do you know ?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Yes, there is...

After you install W8.1, if there is an unknown device with a hardware ID of ACPI\HPQ6001, that is the wireless button that needs a driver.

Here is the W8.1 driver you need for that device.

This package provides the driver for the HP Wireless Button on supported models running a supported operating system. HP Wireless Button allows the physical (hardware) wireless radio button on the system to enable and disable the wireless connection on the system.

http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp74001-74500/sp74484.exe

If there is no unknown device with that ID, then the driver is not necessary to operate the F12 key.

Also, this unknown device should never show up when you have W7 installed.

[Ian50]

Thanks Paul.

I'll try to extract the INF files later, just searching for registry keys that may provide insight.

Who knows - one needs to be aware of the divergent possibilities in this detective game

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Someone has reverse engineered the way the wifi power on configuration has been set up in W7--either in Windows or in the 3168 driver files.

But how and where?  Therein lies the mystery.

I just can't understand why Intel developed W7 drivers for a card that doesn't work on W7--at least on the 250 G6.

I wish I knew if the card worked on other PC's running W7.  I have no other notebooks to gauge this.

[Ian50]

"I wish I knew if the card worked on other PC's running W7"

Yes, that knowledge would be immensely helpful.

That Intel did write a Win7 driver for the AC3168 is what actually caused  me to wonder if the power on/off is *NOT* in the network card driver. This was added later in some other registry settings by MS ??

But how ? Makes no sense. Later versions of W7 detecting the Airplane key and defaulting it to on (ie. power off) ?

Whatever has been done, it's quite clever from the MS viewpoint.

And I haven't found any significant differences in the INF files for both Win7 and Win8.1 drivers for the AC3168 (nor the AC3165 for that matter).

All indirect evidence now seems to point to registry settings other than those emplaced by the Intel driver.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

I know that the 3165 definitely works on W7.

[Ian50]

No luck ...

Tried everything my little skills can think of - barebones W7 install; replace the INF, SYS and DAT files with those from W8.1 after editing to replace WINB with WIN7 then install (that produced loads of squawks), and although this didn't cause mayhem, it did nothing for the wifi.

It's a power interrupt request someplace in the registry. That's as close as I've come - examined the INF, SYS and DAT files with no precise answers.

The usb3 external network adapter remains the weapon (the only one) of choice. W7's last hurrah !

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Thanks for giving it your best effort!